For most purposes it would be much preferable to use the round number 16,250,000 instead of the detailed figures which were given in the Government report. The particular report from which the figures are taken is not a tabulation, but a written report in regard to the methods used for packing cotton. Since the report was intended to be read by merchants and planters, rather than by statisticians, it is all the more important that the figures should be presented in round numbers so that they may be easily grasped. The mere fact that values for the cotton in the latter part of the quotation given above are in very rough estimates of such round numbers as "$1,000,000,000", calls special attention to the use of detailed figures for the "16,250,276 bales".

Misleading figures irnplying a greater accuracy than justifiable are very often found as a result of the addition of different quantities some of which are large and some small. The small quantities may have a great degree of accuracy, but this does not give accuracy to the sum of all the quantities, for the total cannot be any more accurate than the most inaccurate item included in the total. If a very large item is not accurate within ten thousand, then it is useless to include in the grand total the three right-hand digits which may be obtained as the result of addition. When some of the items included are so small that they are in tens or hundreds, the addition should be made to include all the digits. After the sum is known then all those digits whose accuracy is doubtful in the total should be replaced by ciphers.